October – a month of reckoning

October would the month to separate the real contenders from the pretenders.

It kicks off with a double derby with Liverpool vs Everton (Oct 1) and Arsenal vs Tottenham (Oct 2).

After a week’s break, Liverpool host Manchester United (Oct 15) followed by a Manchester derby at Old Trafford between Manchester United vs Manchester City (Oct 23).

Finally, Chelsea entertains Arsenal (Oct 29) to end the month.

Who will stay at the top of the league come November?

MAS Going Places’ Hotel Hit List

While reading through MAS Going Places September 2011 issue’s Hotel Hit List, I can’t help but find the Malaysian hotels listed incongruously in the list to be in poor taste. No disrespect to the listed Malaysian hotels but expectations  from tourists coming into the country would be high from the article which lists some of the world’s truly top hotels, notably;

Houshi Ryokan, the world’s oldest surviving hotel built in 717 and still run by the same family for 46 generations.

Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, the first meeting place for the League of Nations which became the United Nations,

Badrutts Palace Hotel built in 1896, the grand establishment of St Moritz which has long been the playground of the European elite

Ritz Carlton Hotel, Hong Kong, world’s tallest hotel with a world class view

Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai  built in 1903, the icon of India

Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur which is regularly voted as a top 50 hotels in the world. In 2011, Oberoi Udaivilas was voted fifth best hotel in the world by Travel and Leisure Magazine.

Maison Moschino, the Italian mega-brand hotel that showcases haute couture allure with avant-garde decor

Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai, the pride of the Persian Gulf

Treehotel, Sweden

Ecocamp, Torres del Paine National Park, Chile

Pantone Hotel, Brussels

Hotel Silken Puerta America, Madrid

Scholosshotel in Grunewald, Berlin

The list goes on and included in the list are the Malaysian establishments which could not compare with the other listed hotels in terms of history, uniqueness, importance, luxury. Imagine the huge dissappointment the tourist would face when they discover that the Malaysian hotels were just ‘ordinary’.  The idea was to promote the Malaysian hotels but when you try to promote a Proton as a Ferarri, the damage would be irreparable.

Bangkok Airport Train Experience

Landed in Suvarnabhumi airport early and decided to check out their airport train. It was a 5 min walk from the arrival gates. Signages are sufficient. Quite tourist friendly.  There was a long queue for tickets. Was told that it would take 30 minutes to get to the city centre. Ticket cost 90 Baht for express and 45 Baht for regular. Took a regular and waited for only 5 minutes before embarking on my first train from the airport to Bangkok city centre at 12.45 pm.

There was a gap of 5 inches between platform and train which may prove hazardous for an over eager passenger. So much for Thai engineering precision. After all it is only 5 inches, mai pen rai. For me, it was too big a gap for comfort.

The seats were comfortable and the A/C was good making the 5 minutes wait pleasant which could be better if there was piped in music. The journey started at 12.51 pm.

Arrived the first stop at Lat Krabang station 12.57 pm. The train continued to the next stop, Ban Trap Chang station 1.02 pm.

After Ban Trap Chang, the train appear to be passing the last frontier of outer Bangkok. Green fields, wooden houses where an intricate vein of canals flow feeding into an abundance of fish farms.

We reached Hua Mak station at 1.06 pm. Could see more concrete buildings rising higher to meet the sky. Square block of flats replaces the wooden houses.

We promptly stopped at Ramkamhaeng station 1.10 pm. Crowd begin pouring in. There is only standing room from here. Outside the train shop lots replaces houses. Commercial buildings substitute flats of dwellings.

Next stop is Makkasan station, the main station. Arrived at 1.13 pm, exactly 22 minutes from airport. Large empty modern building surrounded by old dilapidated godowns

Ratchaprarop station came up at 1.16 pm. We are entering the city center from here. Sky scrapers towers all round.

Finally reached the last stop Phaya Thai station at 1.18 pm. Disembarked and proceed to the stairs. Found the 6 feet wide stairs to be too narrow for comfort. Three farangs would have covered the entire width.

It was a 10 minutes walk to the BTS skytrain and a short ride to Chitlom station, reaching at 1.36 pm. From Chitlom, it was another 15 minutes walk to Grand Centra Hotel, my destination.

Overall, it took about 1 hour 10 minutes to reach my destination versus 40 minutes by taxi. Plus point is that cost only 45 baht and you get a nice elevated tour of Bangkok.

Bolton top the league

The Barclays Premier League season 2011/2012 kicked off with many expectations dashed. Newly promoted Queen Park Rangers and Swansea maybe on cloud nine 3 months ago with their ticket to the main arena but they were both brought down to earth with 4-0 drubbing by Bolton and Manchester City. Fellow promoted club, Norwich managed an away draw at Wigan while Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, all part of the big five failed to start with a win. They were held by Stoke, Sunderland and Newcastle respectively. Everton and Tottenham had their match postponed due to the London riots while defending champions, Manchester United  demonstrated their famous Houdini act yet again with a lucky own goal to narrow beat West Bromich Albion away. Fulham were held in a scoreless draw by Aston Villa. Wolves managed an away win at Blackburn to complete the first round of matches.

The stars of the first matches were the lesser names; Shay Given who practically kept Fulham at bay single handedly while Sebastian Larsson probably scored the goal of the week. Two big names however managed to shine in an otherwise drab performance by the multi-millionaires football stars; namely Sergio Aguero who blended in so perfectly and actually ran the Man City main engine. The other big signing who proved he was worth his salt was Ashley Young who blazed up and down the flanks of Man U.

Overall, it was a let down with only 4 outright wins and 5 draws, the season kicked off with a little whimper especially from the main teams, except perhaps Manchester City proving to be the exception.

Team of the week should go to Bolton who top the league with Man City.

Next matches to look out for – Arsenal versus Liverpool on August 20 and a top table class between Bolton Wanderers and Manchester City on August 21.

World’s Longest Bridge

July 1st 2011 witnessed the historic opening of the world’s longest bridge; Jiaozhou Bay Bridge linking Qingdao to Huangdao Island. Spanning over an unimaginable 42.5 kilometers, China has shown the world once again that it has arrived on the global stage and looks poised to be a world leader in infra-structure engineering.

It is truly awesome. Imagine the bridge is enough to run a full marathon from start to finish, end to end.

Coming in the near future will be a bridge linking Hong Kong to Macau. Now that is expected to be 80 kilometers long. What’s next?

100,000 Views

Finally after 4 years and 4 months of blogging, my blog hit 100,000 views despite the long hiatus when I stopped blogging. Average views per day grew from 12 per day in 2007 to 92 in 2011.

My top ten most frequented blogs are:-

1) Crime Rate In Malaysia

2) Miss China Miss World

3) The Flamboyance of Flo Jo

4) A Simple Chinese Lunch

5) Malaysia Rocks at the Amazing Race Asia

6) A Day Out at Kuala Selangor

7) Sungai Gabai Waterfalls

’8) Sunrise at Broga Hill

9) Bukit Kutu – First Time

10) The Amazing Race Asia 2 – Finale

Slowly but surely I have reached the 100,000 landmark.

Next would be 500,000. Now would it take double the time?

Well that’s a real challenge.

Football Blues

August 13, 2011 is the most awaited date. Football fans will recover from their withdrawal symptons and the taps in pubs will pour again.  The Barclays Premier League season 2011/2012 will kick off again. The new comers; Queen Park Rangers, Norwich City and Swansea would provide a fresh look to the league although West Ham would be sadly missed.

The draw has been kind to the big teams which have been kept apart on opening day with the biggest clash arguably would be between Tottenham Hotspurs and Everton.

Arsenal probably has the most difficult start for the season, playing Newcastle United on 13 August, followed by Liverpool on 20 August and Manchester United on 27 August. Chelsea has the easiest start and should top the table with full points by end August.

Whatever happens, August would be an explosive month!

Gunung Angsi From Bukit Putus

Gunung Angsi at 825 meters has been on my must do list for the past 2 years since I first heard about it. I was a bit aprehensive about Angsi especially after hearing  J. Louie had a lot of problems climbing Angsi, possibly because he was carrying a heavy pack but he took 4 1/2 hours to reach the summit. Neverthless when Leow organised an Angsi trek, I jumped at the opportunity since it was with a small group of known trekkers.

We met in Connaught on Sunday morning and proceeded at 8.45 am to Angsi via the Lekas Highway. It was a smooth ride and we reached the Bukit Putus trail head (N 02º43.647′ E 102º03.373′) by 9.30 am. There are two treks up Gunung Angsi, one via the Ulu Bendol Forest Park and one through Bukit Putus. Bukit Putus is said to be the easier trek and the time to reach the peak was reported to be between 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours. Having a maximum 3 hours in mind, I looked forward to the hike.

The trek starts off with a steep hike. From the first step, the steep climb continued for about 20 minutes before easing off to less demanding gradients. Was surprised to find a rest stop 10 minutes later,  a bit dissappointed that was so early in the hike. We hardly climb 1 km. Checked my GPS and found that we covered only about 1/4 of the trek. We stopped for 5 minutes to relax and take in the ambience of the rest stop. Some good folks had set up shelters complete with tables, chairs and cooking utensils. The area was kept very clean.

Having an interrupted momentum, we were off again. Found the trail to the peak were well marked all the way. Truly enjoyed disocvering the many interesting names along the trek.

From the rest stop, it was more like a nature walk. There was not much climbing for the next 40 minutes as we covered 1.5 km, first reaching a viewing point where we could get a glimpse the Kuala Pilah dam before moving ahead, passing by Big Dick 2 and Big Dick 1 before reaching Broken Arrow.

From Broken Arrow, it was down hill to Wild Board Swamp. This place was truly swampy. After negotiating past the mud, we reached Savannah Pass started climbing again. This time it was a short 1 km of climbing before we reached the peak. Reaching the peak was a bit of an ‘anti-climax’.

The peak is a beautiful large space which was kept very clean. Looked more like someone’s garden.

I have managed Gunung Angsi in 2 hours 10 minutes. A slow and leisurely hike.  Total distance covered was 4.9km. A fast hiker should be able to do it in less than 90 minutes.  This is definitely one of the most pleasant and easiest hike. The clear trails, the gentle treks and the absence of leeches makes this an ideal hike for beginners.

We had lunch at the peak since it was such a short hike and we had plenty of time to spare.  We had coffee, hot tea, hot milo, red wine, instant noodles and sandwiches.  It was a feast.

My buddy, Liew showing his love for nature.

We can get a view of Seremban from the peak while the opposite side, we get a lovely view of the Negeri Sembilan mountain range.

After getting our fill of food and the ambience at the peak, we proceed downhill. The return trek was much faster and we reached the rest stop in less than an hour.

We found an uncle fast asleep at the rest stop. As we had time, we stopped there again to brew tea, knowing that we are only 1 km from the trail head. I too took a nap and some hot tea, we finally left the Angsi Forest Reserve, happy with the pleasant trek and wanting to try the trek from Ulu Bendul the next time we come back.

(Blog was amended with the help of CL Chong)

Elizabeth Taylor, a true legend.

(February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011)

We lost a true legend!

Not Anwar Again?!

Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim hits the news again today with allegations of being a porn star together with a Chinese looking woman in a video which was shown to the media by an unidentified Dato T.

Dato Seri Anwar denied immediately as the Malaysian public appears anxious to find out the real truth behind video. Was it really Anwar or is it another smear campaign by the BN who timed it perfectly on the same day as the dissolution of the Sarawak State Government.

If it was truly him, Dato Seri Anwar had just killed himself politically by denying the claims. If  not, then this could be the breakthrough for him to garner more support. So it is an either win all or lose all situation for him. But either way, the people who suffers the most would be his family members.  

For BN, if it was Anwar, they could kill off the opposition leader but they still have not address the sentiment of dissatisfaction of at least 30% of the population. If it wasn’t Anwar, then they could win more votes in Sarawak but will lose big time in the upcoming General Elections. Either way, it is appears to be a desperate measure. If was truly Anwar, it was a wrong strategy to release it at the same time as the dissolution of the Sarawak State Government. The dissolution should be delayed for at least a month.

For the Rakyat, everyone is sick and tired and want to puke with the politics in Malaysia. The opposition had a big win during the last election, not because of Anwar Ibrahim but more because of poor governance and bad examples led by the BN government. Just look at the opposition candidates the last round. The number of first time winners signify that almost anyone could have been elected. The Rakyat just want a change. Unless BN truly addresses the social issues which the Rakyat faces, one less Anwar Ibrahim or one less Lim Kit Siang or one less Nik Aziz does not change the Rakyat.

It is strange that in this 21st century, our politicians are still practising 20th century tactics. Do they think the Rakyat can still be led by the nose like cows?